Really interesting scene and colours - The sky is unreal! This is my new desktop

Tue February 24, 2015 at 8:49 am

Mangoman

"Very Damn Cool"

Retract your "Lousy", sir. That's insulting, even though it is, yes, just your opinion and you only represent your self which is a small minority of one. I'd love to see you do better. I think (and here we go again - an opinion of one) it looks fantastic. Ain't nothin' wrong with that water. Nothin'.

The ice looks that way cuz it's been rather warm there, and it's been melting; unlike conditions here in Michigan the last month. The almost-translucence of that iceberg is fantastic - the way Ryan worked with light in the entire thing is genius. Thank you again for a good one. Mangoman out.

Fri February 20, 2015 at 10:04 pm

Dave

"Outstanding"

I could look at this all day and never get tired of it.

Sat February 7, 2015 at 7:12 pm

Tom

"Lousy"

Overwhelming blue icebergs? Really? Real fake looking water.

Very unusual for this website.

Fri February 6, 2015 at 4:54 am

Sandi

"AMAZING"

I'm just a plain ole' art of all kinds lover. I know zilch about the technicalities. I only know if I love it or don't love it. I LOVE IT!

Sat January 31, 2015 at 2:15 pm

Psyclone

"Awesome"

At first I thought maybe you'd read the same article I did about the guy who photographed the upside-down icebergs in Antarctica recently:

I figure those shots would give you some inspiration at the very least!

Thu January 29, 2015 at 9:55 am

cmmnoble

"Wow"

This is stunning. Simply stunning. It almost feels like a painting, and definitely has a fantasy vibe. Thanks for this one!

Wed January 28, 2015 at 12:11 pm

Ockyin

"Sweetness!"

<3 these Fantasy pieces - perhaps I play to much, but I just want to hop on my Chocobo and explore through the glaciers! Reality is nice, but artwork that takes you away from it all is the best. Thanks Ryan!

Wed January 28, 2015 at 6:57 am

Bez

"WOW"

I love the colors.

Tue January 27, 2015 at 10:41 am

Ryan

"Re:Ice Noise"

I am not especially crazy about how the bump mapping turned out on these icebergs either. I was hoping it would smooth out a lot more when the anti-aliasing was applied, but unfortunately it didn't go as far as I had hoped. Unfortunately this piece took so long to render that I am probably not going to do any revisions (unless I remove about 75% of the ice from the scene).

Live and learn! I do appreciate all of your comments, even the negative ones.

Sun January 25, 2015 at 8:55 am

Elaine

"Depth of field?"

Slackweed has a point, although the way he said it is very negative. This image has beautiful lighting and the iceberg glowing from within is so lovely. The colors are just spectacular! What I'm seeing, and this is true for some of your other more recent images like Pyre and Final Flame, is that you have departed a little from the photographic depth of field that I have always found beautiful in your landscapes.

The renders I really adore, like Canopy Creek, Enshrouded, Sakura, and World's Edge are beautiful to me because of your treatment of perspective, light, and depth of field. You have parts of the image softened a little, so my eye knows where to go. In this image, having ultra-sharp detail in the clouds, the iceberg, and in the water distracts my eye. I would enjoy the image more if the sky and clouds were softer to focus my eye on the iceberg with its mysterious texture and inner light.

And yeah, everyone's a critic, and it's not that recent renders aren't beautiful - they are! - but some thoughtful depth of field might make them even more beautiful.

Sun January 25, 2015 at 8:38 am

Hypatia

"Absolutely gorgeous"

When I see a new work here that I love, my first reaction is along the lines of "oooh nice." My reaction when I first saw this? "F%#& me, it's so pretty!" I actually squealed those words as I downloaded it. I love the swirls on the ice, and the way the light shines through the glacier, and how the clouds look so sharp because of the angle of the sun. Great color scheme too. This will be my desktop background for quite some time.

Sat January 24, 2015 at 11:20 pm

Labanimal

"@Slackweed"

that's what we call an imature WHINE... I think after that tantrum you owe Ryan an appology... Ryan knows a great deal of what he's doing - if you can do better, open your own competing wallpaper website selling your art - up for the challenge? - doubt it! ;) - Digital Blasphemy is known the world over! - this peace may not be perfect, but not far off! I can asure you, positive critisism can go a long way, Ryan always listens, and always deliver something even better - If you don't have anything good to say, say nothing at all!

Sat January 24, 2015 at 5:00 pm

Glenn

"Not my fav"

Been a fan for years but this one was not pleasing for the reasons others have posted. Plus, unless the intent was to mimic hard-packed snow, the ice edges are too smooth. I'd prefer the look should be more like deep blue glass refracting light, which is what old glacier shards tend to look like.

Sat January 24, 2015 at 2:01 pm

Glenn

"Not my fav"

Been a fan for years but this one was not pleasing for the reasons others have posted. Plus, unless the intent was to mimic hard-packed snow, the ice edges are too smooth. I'd prefer the look should be more like deep blue glass refracting light, which is what old glacier shards tend to look like.

Sat January 24, 2015 at 2:01 pm

Angelique

"Midnight Sun"

It's a beautiful idea (the light through the glacier ice) and I think the skies turned out beautifully but I have to agree with others that he graininess (very much on my screen) spoils the image because ice isn't fuzzy in reality and the graininess makes it look as if it is a photo taken with a bad digital camera in low lighting that caused graininess. The idea would have higher visual impact if the software could properly execute your idea and the ice looked clear and shiny. Also I like how you'd always add a little bit of "life" in most of your images (some manner of animals or little human figure). I think the scene could use at least a bird or something....

Fri January 23, 2015 at 10:21 pm

Slackweed

"Noise + Grain"

Every render recently is full of grain and noise that ruins the images for me. I will probably no longer renew my membership because there's few actual clean images anymore.

I'm not sure if you prefer the noisy look or failing to understand modern techniques of using mipmapping, trilinear filtering, anisotropic filter, etc to eliminate the artifacts of high detail images when rendered at a distance or sharp angles.

Or are the details actual geometry? Which would explain the noise. In which case it should be converted to textures so that it can be filtered down properly. (bump maps, etc)

The clouds and water in this image have high detail but yet aren't noisy, the ice is ridiculously noisy.

Fri January 23, 2015 at 7:54 pm

Slackweed

"Almost"

Want to love it, the weird pattern on the ice though is too detailed and just turns to noise.

Fri January 23, 2015 at 5:08 pm

Braden

"5k 16:10 broken?"

When I try to grab the 16:10 5k version (to use on dual 1920x1200 screens), it's only getting a snippet at the top and the rest of the image seems to be corrupt.

Fri January 23, 2015 at 3:59 pm

MarkB

"Great"

Love it, could we have a night version too?

Fri January 23, 2015 at 2:01 pm

Liz

"Love it"

It's my new work background and already a favorite.

It is rather grainy looking... I am sort of on the fence if I like that effect or not. If you have time, do you mind posting a smoother version?

Overall, I am easily pleased by your work over the past 10 years and counting. I love seeing what you come up with and what imaginative treats I can gaze at each day.

Fri January 23, 2015 at 12:12 pm

Phil

"8/10"

Love the concept, but as others have stated the ice is a bit too grainy and the sky needs a little work.

Still love it though. Looking forward to dual screens.

Fri January 23, 2015 at 12:01 pm

LewsTherin

"Very Good"

This one reminds me of Circumpolar. I like it a lot. Some people talk about grainy aspects to some pics you render and this has a bit of this, but it's a great piece regardless. A lot of the art you render is super smooth like Tropic of Thetis (At Night or Day) and Niflheim and Circumpolar and Cronus Rising. These are the ones that become very striking; almost like a vision in a lucid dream. So it's the perfection in many of the works that make people see the imperfections in other works. Love your work either way. I try to turn people onto this site all the time. Well worth the price of admission.

Thu January 22, 2015 at 8:45 pm

Chase

"Chilling"

Reminds me of when I lived in Iceland - and their midnight sky

Thu January 22, 2015 at 2:38 pm

Labanimal

"Love it, but... "

not mad for the sky, the patern on the ice makes it look a little too grany but oh my hat the setting is certainly stunning! - water is gorgious!

Thu January 22, 2015 at 1:39 pm

Jenanne

"Lovely!"

I love this, too. Nice choice of colors on the icebergs, and I really like the reflections in the water. Very peaceful and soothing. IMHO, the clouds aren't quite there yet, but see what others say about that. Overall, this is great, Ryan!

Thu January 22, 2015 at 1:02 pm

Littlemom

"10!!!"

Wow!!! Amazingly stunning!!! Absolutely love this, and agree with others about it being calming and inspiring. The colors on the iceburg are perfect. Great job Ryan. It was well worth the work.

Thu January 22, 2015 at 12:49 pm

Mengistuh

"Calming"

I like the mild seclusion and the soft ripple of the water. The color also has a calming effect.

Thu January 22, 2015 at 12:45 pm

Jonathan

"Inspiring"

I saw this on my feed and for a moment thought it was real and wanted to go there. Still wanting to go there.

Thu January 22, 2015 at 12:27 pm

John

"very cool"

Nice job on the water and I love the pinkish sky. Any chance we can get a version w/out the pink lines on the rocks ? Sorry, it feels like they detract a little from the beauty that is clean stone. =)